thats a good idea, i think the high school thing dosent have a real shot casue there is so many holes in it. just cuz you graduated from a city high scchool dosent mean you live in the city.

Yea, I know a lot of people who went to city HS and don't live in the city anymore. There are other, better, ways to make proving residency more difficult to fake.

Originally Posted by GIMMEFIRE600

Unfortunately, its not about proving residency. Its about the fact that in the burbs there are less minorities, granted some suburbanites will have diplomas from nyc high schools, most people(especially minorities) don't leave the city to attend high school. Its about giving minorities more bonus points than whites to hopefully(for the city) move them up the list.

Yea, that's really what sparked this idea. It's a "creative" way to basically skew the #s towards minorities. The fact that it is very easy to fudge your residency in the city is their convenient excuse.

thats a good idea, i think the high school thing dosent have a real shot casue there is so many holes in it. just cuz you graduated from a city high scchool dosent mean you live in the city.

I went to a HS where almost half of the students weren't from the 5 boros... They bragged about the fact that almost 25% of their students traveled from jersey everyday and they also had another 20-25% who traveled in from LI everyday. Not to mention that they even had a few kids travel from CT. It'll definitely be great and exactly what they're looking for when all of those kids are given "residency points" over people who actually live here but didn't when they were in HS. The stupidity of this is mindboggling, not that that should be a surprise.......

Letter I wrote Previously

Hey guys,

I'm not originally from the city, and I oppose this bill. It's not some IGM attitude, but a question of fairness. As an adult, you choose to join the military. As an adult you choose to move into or stay in the city. I chose one not the other, and thus got 5 points on the next exam. As a MINOR I had no choice where I went to high school.

Here is a letter I wrote previously to city council, if you feel as I do, feel free to copy it and send it on:

Todays date, 2011

Dear Councilman,

It has recently come to my attention that for future entry level Firefighter civil service exams, the city council is proposing to eliminate the 5 point bonus for being a city resident, and replace it with a 5 point bonus for graduating high school in the city (Res 0647-2011).

I must oppose this bill on both moral and legal grounds. My logic is very simple. As a minor I, and the vast majority of others, had NO choice as to where we attended high school. This would be like bestowing bonus points on someone with the name of Peter, Andrew or James, but not if his name was John, Phillip or Matthew. Do I pay 5% less in city taxes? No. I should obviously be given the same rights and privileges as all other city residents.

I fully support giving bonus points to city residents. But these points should be based on decisions that adults made for themselves, not decisions that parents made for their children. One way to avoid “faking” residency points is making the residency period longer, or to make the residency period before the exam.

I am a city resident. Unfortunately, I did not grow up inside city limits. This city should NOT make a distinction between a person who moved here as an adult, and a person who was born and raised here, thus punishing them for circumstances that were outside of their control.

Just because you read it in the papers doesn't mean its true, they tend to get things wrong, and the "high school" credit info - they got wrong. If you look at the link above to the bill you will see it was changed from a high school credit to a tightening of the residency credit. So you can all stop worrying.

i know its not possible in fdny cause the size of th dept but in LA investigators show up on your doorstep to ask you questions... thats how it should be

It is possible-the NYPD does it. I reopened my application for PD a few months ago and was supposed to go in the academy in April (till Bloomberg pushed it back till July) and in March in the middle of the day while I'm at work I get this unexpected call from a Detective telling me that he is inside my apartment building asking me names and apartment numbers of neighbors so he can knock on their doors to confirm I really live there and ask them questions about me. If the NYPD can send someone out to knock on some doors to confirm residency there is no reason the FDNY can't.

Just because you read it in the papers doesn't mean its true, they tend to get things wrong, and the "high school" credit info - they got wrong. If you look at the link above to the bill you will see it was changed from a high school credit to a tightening of the residency credit. So you can all stop worrying.

I did read this, and I interpreted it slightly differently. If the state passes this as written it gives the city the freedom to do whatever they want to residency.

"Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass legislation to authorize New York City to enact a local law to grant point credits for New York city resident applicants who pass the firefighter civil service exam and to establish eligibility criteria for such credits."

This is totally open-ended, and it's basically saying let us do what we want......So I'll keep worrying and writing letters

Does anyone have even a guess at how many people fake their residency on the exam? Hundreds? Thousands?

I have no idea, but it seems like a pretty ballsy thing to do, unless it's understood by everyone that's it's common practice. I wonder if in the past, those in charge just didn't care. I would be afraid of getting caught and loosing my spot all together. Luckily I have always lived in brooklyn and don't have to worry.

the big problem that i can see with faking residency is that its way harder for them to prove you dont live somewhere , than for you to prove that you do. the city needs to establish some sort of criterior to be met whether it be cable bills phone bills leases, ...leases are the best but in the economic times its not uncommon for a 25-30 year old to still be living with there parents or relatives. its just easier for vets you show your dd214 and boom you get the points(as long as its honorable) there is no piece of paper that says your a nyc resident or not... when you think about it the only piece of paper that says you lived near or in the city definitely is a high school diploma,,,,, iam 100 percent against it though

when you think about it the only piece of paper that says you lived near or in the city definitely is a high school diploma

I'm not completely understanding this part of your post. The fact that someone has a city diploma means absolute sh1t when it comes to whether they live in or near the city. This person could hypothetically have been living in Hartford for the past 10 yrs and have a diploma here. The whole proposal is completely non-sensical as we have discussed here numerous times. I understand that you are against it, but I can't even see an inkling of justification for this proposal aside from the obvious.

I'm not completely understanding this part of your post. The fact that someone has a city diploma means absolute sh1t when it comes to whether they live in or near the city. This person could hypothetically have been living in Hartford for the past 10 yrs and have a diploma here. The whole proposal is completely non-sensical as we have discussed here numerous times. I understand that you are against it, but I can't even see an inkling of justification for this proposal aside from the obvious.

i just meant its a way to prove that you once did, since if you go to a public school in teh city you live in the city sorry i was a little vague on that

How many of you still want the job?? All this BS has made me want it THAT MUCH MORE!! I'm gonna eat proby school alive!

I just like watching people panic when they get their *** chewed lol! To me that's worth the price of admission. I honestly hope the next class has plenty hard chargers but we need a handful of turds for entertainment purposes only. Fdnyabn101 you know what I'm talking about. I'll bet the vets
Will have the false motivation seeping through their pores by at least week 4. I say we get a pool going. Unless the false motivation is only a marine corps thing lol

I just like watching people panic when they get their *** chewed lol! To me that's worth the price of admission. I honestly hope the next class has plenty hard chargers but we need a handful of turds for entertainment purposes only. Fdnyabn101 you know what I'm talking about. I'll bet the vets
Will have the false motivation seeping through their pores by at least week 4. I say we get a pool going. Unless the false motivation is only a marine corps thing lol

I did read this, and I interpreted it slightly differently. If the state passes this as written it gives the city the freedom to do whatever they want to residency.

"Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass legislation to authorize New York City to enact a local law to grant point credits for New York city resident applicants who pass the firefighter civil service exam and to establish eligibility criteria for such credits."

This is totally open-ended, and it's basically saying let us do what we want......So I'll keep worrying and writing letters

You could be right, when I saw the description of the bill yesterday it said something that made it sound like the residency credit was being tightened and I was in a rush when i read the actual bill the first time today. But just because the council passed this doesn't mean the state will. And it goes nowhere without the state passing it, and even then it doesnt mean enough members of the council would approve a high school credit bill that comes after that, nor do I think they could get it done quickly.

It took them 6 months from bill introduction to pass the age extension, and that was a no brainer. Seems like they had to use the age extension as a bargaining chip just to get this stupid high school credit resolution passed...doesn't sound like they've got enough support for much.

bro' c'mon, really? Army guys are just as good at telling themselves that its hot out when they are starting to get hypothermia. I just think its a military thing. but the marines do things on sort of another level than us. we should have a army/marines pool??? or is that anti-cohesion??

You could be right, when I saw the description of the bill yesterday it said something that made it sound like the residency credit was being tightened and I was in a rush when i read the actual bill the first time today. But just because the council passed this doesn't mean the state will. And it goes nowhere without the state passing it, and even then it doesnt mean enough members of the council would approve a high school credit bill that comes after that, nor do I think they could get it done quickly.

It took them 6 months from bill introduction to pass the age extension, and that was a no brainer. Seems like they had to use the age extension as a bargaining chip just to get this stupid high school credit resolution passed...doesn't sound like they've got enough support for much.

Since Jan '09 almost without exception, the exact opposite of what I wanted and thought should/would happen has happened. So until the announcement comes out, opens and closes WITHOUT this credit, I wont be completely comfortable

i just like watching people panic when they get their *** chewed lol! To me that's worth the price of admission. I honestly hope the next class has plenty hard chargers but we need a handful of turds for entertainment purposes only. Fdnyabn101 you know what i'm talking about. I'll bet the vets
will have the false motivation seeping through their pores by at least week 4. I say we get a pool going. Unless the false motivation is only a marine corps thing lol